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People probably would be irrationally alarmed. It's irrational to be alarmed about a company driving workers to commit suicide? Are you seriously making that

by dev_jim 15y ago

People probably would be irrationally alarmed. It's irrational to be alarmed about a company driving workers to commit suicide? Are you seriously making that argument?

pseudonym 15y ago
I work in the game industry. It is, traditionally, a higher stress environment than other jobs. If someone can't take the stress of the job, is it the fault of the industry, the company, or the mental processes of the person in question? I won't say that the company has no blame, but fobbing off 100% of the responsibility for suicide onto the company is faulty logic at best. When you're considering committing suicide, there's definitely an issue, and more than some of it may be in the way you process stress and/or your environment.
yummyfajitas 15y ago
Yes, it is irrational to worry about a suicides rate of a subset of people which is not statistically different than the suicide rate of the nation as a whole. You'll note that I'm not applying any double standard to China - I made the exact same argument two years ago about France Telecom: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=872813 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=872813
- wbienek 15y ago
  Busted em. Most people don't know how many people die from lightning. Or on our roads every day. It dwarfs all other "death " news". At the end of each report on death they should say: And to put that in perspective x hundred will die from lightning this year and over 50k will die in cars ( in America 250k die per year in china) . We need a war or CAR TERROR.
- Natsu 15y ago
  You did not respond to his point that the suicide rate of people who jumped to their deaths is unlikely to represent the entire number of suicides. I tend to agree with him. Given that someone is posting an infographic here that appears to tacitly claim that the few workers who jumped represent the entire list of suicides at Foxconn, you'll forgive me if I want to examine the data sources and know exactly how the reporting mechanisms work. Because when I see how anomalously low it is compared to the suicide rate pretty much everywhere else, exactly one thing springs to mind: under-reporting.
  - yummyfajitas 15y ago
    I was merely responding to his point about 3 hypothetical suicides at GM, not defending Foxconn against all charges. If you have better data on the suicide rate at Foxconn, go ahead and post it.
    - Natsu 15y ago
      Fair enough, but I sincerely doubt that anyone has accurate information on the suicide rate at Foxconn. I just can't believe in anomalously low statistics compared to everywhere else given with no data on how the information was collected.

by dev_jim 15y ago

People probably would be irrationally alarmed. It's irrational to be alarmed about a company driving workers to commit suicide? Are you seriously making that argument?

pseudonym 15y ago

I work in the game industry. It is, traditionally, a higher stress environment than other jobs. If someone can't take the stress of the job, is it the fault of the industry, the company, or the mental processes of the person in question? I won't say that the company has no blame, but fobbing off 100% of the responsibility for suicide onto the company is faulty logic at best. When you're considering committing suicide, there's definitely an issue, and more than some of it may be in the way you process stress and/or your environment.

yummyfajitas 15y ago

Yes, it is irrational to worry about a suicides rate of a subset of people which is not statistically different than the suicide rate of the nation as a whole. You'll note that I'm not applying any double standard to China - I made the exact same argument two years ago about France Telecom: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=872813 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=872813

wbienek 15y ago
Busted em. Most people don't know how many people die from lightning. Or on our roads every day. It dwarfs all other "death " news". At the end of each report on death they should say: And to put that in perspective x hundred will die from lightning this year and over 50k will die in cars ( in America 250k die per year in china) . We need a war or CAR TERROR.
Natsu 15y ago
You did not respond to his point that the suicide rate of people who jumped to their deaths is unlikely to represent the entire number of suicides. I tend to agree with him. Given that someone is posting an infographic here that appears to tacitly claim that the few workers who jumped represent the entire list of suicides at Foxconn, you'll forgive me if I want to examine the data sources and know exactly how the reporting mechanisms work. Because when I see how anomalously low it is compared to the suicide rate pretty much everywhere else, exactly one thing springs to mind: under-reporting.
- yummyfajitas 15y ago
  I was merely responding to his point about 3 hypothetical suicides at GM, not defending Foxconn against all charges. If you have better data on the suicide rate at Foxconn, go ahead and post it.
  - Natsu 15y ago
    Fair enough, but I sincerely doubt that anyone has accurate information on the suicide rate at Foxconn. I just can't believe in anomalously low statistics compared to everywhere else given with no data on how the information was collected.